Rifle-toting suspect at Raleigh high school’s graduation rehearsal causes mass panic

A Wake County high school graduation ceremony rehearsal erupted into panic Thursday after a person brought a rifle to N.C. State University’s campus.

N.C. State Police charged Deon Ray McCullers, 19, on Thursday with bringing a gun on educational property and going armed to the terror of the people.

McCullers is accused of bringing an AK-style semi-automatic rifle, also known as a Draco, to Thursday morning’s graduation rehearsal for Southeast Raleigh High School at Reynolds Coliseum.

According to the arrest warrant, McCullers got into a confrontation with an individual off campus.

“He then came armed to his graduation with his firearm in his vehicle,” according to the warrant. “He armed himself while in a crowded parking lot by pulling the rifle from the vehicle and walked around his vehicle with the rifle in his hands.

“This caused mass panic to a large crowd who sheltered in place inside the coliseum.”

No one was harmed, Principal George Harden said in a letter sent to parents on Thursday.

Graduation goes on as scheduled

The Raleigh man is being held at the Wake County jail on a $15,000 secured bond.

It’s not immediately clear if McCullers is a student at Southeast Raleigh High. Harden told parents they had “received a report that a student displayed what appeared to be a firearm in the parking lot.”

Harden told families that extra security would be on hand for the graduation ceremony. Despite the incident, the graduation ceremony went on as scheduled Thursday night at Reynolds Coliseum.

The incident marked the end of a difficult school year for Southeast Raleigh High. In November, a 15-year-old student was fatally stabbed on campus. A 14-year-old student has been charged with murder.